Running you own business no matter what it is will require sales of some level. You ha e to ‘sell your products and/or services to people and this could require you make cold calls (calls to people you don’t know or have never spoken to).

But cold calling is an art-form. It can be daunting but nervous or not, you always need to make a good impression, so you need to do it right. Here are some tips to help you do just that:

Business plans can seem like such a boring or daunting prospect. But if you can’t be motivated to write down your steps to success for your business, should you be starting the business in the first place?

This four-minute video will help you weed out the most important elements of a business plan, and help you put pen to paper so that you can give your business idea a fighting chance.

Checking out the competition is a must when embarking on a new business venture. You can look at their pricing, the quality of their products and services, and their strengths and weaknesses and use all that information as part if your plan of attack.

It all sounds simple enough, but if you don’t know how to cut to the bone you’ll just be gathering information that will sit in a file somewhere collecting dust. This video will show you how to make sure you don’t miss anything out.

Whether you provide services like beauty treatments, work as a counsellor or run an online store, you will be selling something to your client base. Most business mums wouldn’t necessarily have a sales background when they go into business, and it can feel a little overwhelming to suddenly be in a position where you have to encourage people to spend their money with you.

If you’re in this situation and need some advice on how to get the process right, then today’s video will help you with that and more. In just six minutes, you’ll learn how to be a sales supremo.

Many people wrongly think that working from home will give them the flexibility to work when they want, and how they want all the time. For them, the dream can mean ignoring the alarm clock and getting up whenever they want to get up.

Yes, running your own business from home means you are your own boss, but if you go into it with the same mindset as London Mayor Boris Johnson thinking that you can just skive at home eating cheese, then you’re in for a very rude awakening.

Sending out a press release can be a big step for small businesses – especially when it’s all been done in house. You’ve taken the time to research the best media outlets for your product or service, and you crafted the type of press release that will make journalists stand to attention.

So now what? Do you call and harass journalists five minutes after sending out your press release? No, but this is what you can and should do:

Having a website is great, but without customers it’s just a hobby. And the same applies for any kind of business.

If you have a website that doesn’t convert browsers into paying customers, you need to find a way to get buying visitors to your website.

One way to do this is to use a technique called lead generation. Big brands do it all the time, and successful small businesses understand its importance and have made it part of their way of gleaming more business.

Lead generation can and should be done online and offline. Watch this video tutorial to find out how to do lead generation and make it pay.